Jelly Roll has a brand new song out, and it's a doozy. The 40-year-old released "Heart of Stone," as his next single, proving that he is unafraid to share his innermost thoughts, feelings and fears through his music. It's a precedent he set with "Save Me," one of his early singles. Fortunately, Jelly Roll is continuing his ability to be honest in his music.
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"Heart of Stone" was written by Jelly Roll, along with Blake Pendergrass, Shy Carter and Zach Crowell. The song is Jelly Roll's third single from Beautifully Broken. It follows "I Am Not Okay" and "Liar," both No. 1 hits for Jelly Roll.
The song says in part, "I'm wide awake and I'm dreaming / Wondering where and when I fell apart / Oh, I fell apart / I had enough of my demons / Angels only meet you where you are / And I'm in the dark / Least for now, Lord, I ain't losing hope / That somehow you can make a heart of gold / From this heart of stone / This heart of stone."
The Success Of "Save Me"
Jelly Roll has had plenty of hits in recent years, but it all started with "Save Me." The song was first released by Jelly Roll in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nashville native later released it again in 2023, this time with his good friend, Lainey Wilson, earning the pair a Grammy nomination.
"We were all in the darkest place we'd been in a long time when I wrote that song in May 2020," Jelly Roll admits to Billboard. "They were still spraying boxes with Lysol. We were all living with our own thoughts a little more than we're used to."
"Save Me" is much more vulnerable than songs Jelly Roll released as an independent artist early in his career. It was his wife, Bunnie Xo, who convinced her husband to release "Save Me" as a single.
"I sent this to my wife," Jelly Roll recalls on The Howard Stern Show. "And she sent it right back to me and said, 'This will be the song that changes your life.'"
Jelly Roll has written plenty of songs in his career, but none have matched the experience he had writing "Save Me," at least so far.
"It's the only time in my career this has happened, and I don't want to sound like a quacko when I say it," Jelly Roll reveals. "But truthfully, I heard 'Somebody save me' in a dream.' To the point, I thought I stole it ... I just heard the 'Somebody save me' part."
